Video blog reaching fraction of community

Fort Gordon Public Affairs Office

“From the Desk Of…” is Col. Samuel Anderson’s, Fort Gordon garrison commander, monthly video blog, posted each month on the Fort Gordon Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ftgordonga. It’s also available on the Fort Gordon web site and the installation’s YouTube channel.
Photo courtesy Fort Gordon Public Affairs Colonel Samuel Anderson, the Fort Gordon garrison commander, wants to talk to every member of the Fort Gordon community explaining important issues, answering questions and keeping his finger on the pulse of the installation.

Once a month, he does exactly that, but not enough people are listening. Anderson wants to know why.

“From the Desk Of…” is Anderson’s monthly video blog, posted each month on the Fort Gordon Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ftgordonga. It’s also available on the Fort Gordon web site and the installation’s YouTube channel. During each month’s production, Anderson talks about a topic of importance on post and answers questions submitted through Facebook.

“We started this project in November as a way of reaching out to our community members and giving them the chance to ask questions about anything – policies, programs, services, you name it,” Anderson said. “It’s a chance for community members to cut through the red tape and bureaucracy and engage me about issues affecting the city of Fort Gordon.”

But the project hasn’t taken off in the way Anderson had hoped. Community members are watching the videos an average of 127 times per month. But officials at the Fort Gordon Public Affairs Office say the page has a weekly total reach of more than 8,700 Facebook users. What’s more, they add that very few questions for the garrison commander have been submitted.

“ Clearly, we’re not connecting to the community in a way that I had hoped,” said Anderson.

The monthly video blogs have covered topics as wideranging as the Automated Installation Entry system, the seven- hour power outage that was conducted during December, and ways community members can stay informed about developments in the installation. The questions answered have ranged from concerns about housing, installation access, Exchange services and barracks.

Anderson urged members of the community to watch the March video blog, scheduled to be released on Monday, and provide feedback via Facebook. He also reminded community members that they can submit their questions via private message on the Facebook page. Questions will be answered directly to the person who asks, and the most relevant questions will be selected for use in a future edition of “From the Desk of…”

“We want this to be a useful tool for the community, and if we’re not giving you the information you want, I want to hear about it,” Anderson said. “By the same token, we want to make sure everyone knows the blog is available. So tell your friends, watch this month’s blog, and send us your comments and your questions for next month.”

In addition to the Fort Gordon Facebook page, “From the Desk Of…” is available on the Fort Gordon web site at www.gordon. army.mil and is archived on YouTube at www.youtube.com/FGPAO. Questions for the garrison commander can be submitted using the private message function on Facebook.